Cafe of Life prepares to open new home

TRACY X. MIGUEL-NAVARRO

1:47 PM, Apr 29, 2014

Carolina Hidalgo/Staff
Cayte Turley, center, picks out free groceries on Monday, April 28, near the historic banyan tree on Old U.S. 41 in Bonita Springs where Cafe of Life provides meals and groceries to those in need five times a week.

Naples Daily News

Carolina Hidalgo/Staff
Volunteer Gloria Wilkie speaks to other volunteers during an open house event for Cafe of Life's new community center on Nomad Drive in Bonita Springs on April 25. The new center will operations on May 12.

Naples Daily News

Carolina Hidalgo/Staff
Alida Altuzar feeds her one-year-old, Allison Vamaca, near the historic banyan tree on Old U.S. 41 in Bonita Springs thanks to Cafe of Life.

The nonprofit is slated to relocate from under the historic banyan tree on Old 41 Road and begin serving hot lunches to the less fortunate in Bonita Springs starting on Monday, May 12, at the new Leitner Neighborhood Park, 26724 Nomad Drive, in Bonita Springs.

When the charity isn’t feeding those in need, the park will be open to the community.

“It’s so sad that we still have people living in the United Stated going hungry,” said Bruce Wheatley, vice chairman of the charity’s board of directors and chairman of the capital campaign for Leitner Neighborhood Park. “We didn’t want people in Bonita Springs to go to bed hungry.”

The nonprofit built the new neighborhood park jointly with the city in near the Leitner Creek Manor and Rosemary Park neighborhoods.

Cafe of Life hosted an open house event on Friday, April 25, and also had a neighborhood picnic on Sunday, April 27, for the Leitner community residents.

The charity has been helping those less fortunate in Bonita Springs formed in 1998, and has sought a permanent home for several years.

In 2012, 49.0 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 33.1 million adults and 15.9 million children. That same year, households with children reported food insecurity at a significantly higher rate than those without children, 20.0 percent compared to 11.9 percent, according to Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity.

For about eight years, Café of Life, which feeds those in need at 10 a.m. Mondays through Fridays, has been serving free meals cooked by private volunteers and donors under the historic banyan tree on Old 41 Road and Childers Street. Café of Life had been at other locations, including a church and inside a community center.

Last year, Café of Life served about 22,000 hot lunches at picnic tables under the banyan tree across from Riverside Park in downtown Bonita Springs. On average, Café of Life serves more than 70 people per day.

On a recent morning, more than 50 people gathered at the historic banyan tree on Old 41 Road, where the Café of Life continues to serve meals until they relocate to its new site.

Alida Altuzar, a single mother of three children, ages 4, 3, and 1, who is a apparel stocker, said in Spanish that Café of Life helps feed many, like herself, who sometimes what one earns at work is just enough to cover rent expenses.

Altuzar, 31, and her children ate lunch, including chicken casserole, corn, salad and hard-boiled eggs.

Apart from a meal, the Bonita Springs family took supplemental groceries home, plus diapers. Thanks to Café of Life, Altuzar said she knows she will have food for her children.

The new Leitner Neighborhood Park was built on a county-owned triangular parcel wedged between Nomad Drive and Imperial Parkway. The once vacant lot was created during construction of the road. Lee County agreed to sign over the land to the city.

On an estimated .56 acres, Café of Life constructed a 1,878-square-foot community building with an enclosed 928-square-foot kitchen and open pavilion.

An outdoor patio on the north end of the building opens to a playground, a grassy area with grills and a water retention pond. Adjacent are basketball courts and a parking lot are on the south end of the building.

The total construction project cost was $500,000, which was made by private donors, including clubs, individuals and organizations. There are still funds left over from the project, which will be used for other programs, as well as invested.

Wheatley thanked all of the donors for their contributions for the Leitner Neighborhood Park in Bonita Springs.

Moreover, Wheatley thanked the estimated 600 volunteers, who prepare and serve the meals with their own money.

“They are the heart and soul of Café of Life,” he said.

Thanks to the volunteer’s dedication, Wheatley said Café of Life has not missed serving a meal for the last 10 years.

Some residents, who don’t own a vehicle, expressed some concern about getting to the new location.

However, Sean Dublan, director of operations at Café of Life, said the charity is reviewing the options of busing people to the new site.

Although Altuzar said she would have to walk further to get to the new location, she is looking forward to the new location where her children will have a playground to enjoy and she will continue to find help.

Altuzar, of Bonita Springs, walks to the banyan tree park twice or tree time a week. She has been receiving help from Café of Life for about one year and is able to feed her children.

“This is truly a blessing from God,” said Cayte Turley, while waiting in line Monday morning to pick supplemental groceries to take home.

After becoming disabled, Turley, 47, said she finds help nearly every day from the Café of Life in downtown Bonita Springs. Turley, who has been receiving help from the nonprofit organization about eight months, said she is on limited income and is not eligible for the government’s food assistance program.

When Turley is done paying her living expenses, she said she has no money left to buy food to eat.

The Bonita Springs resident said she is thankful for all of the community’s support.

“It has taken a long time for all those concerned to come to a consensus on where the best permanent location for the Café of Life would be,” said Bonita Springs mayor Ben Nelson.

“This location will work out well because the Café will only be using it for a few hours a day and then surrounding neighborhood, which really needed a park and playground, will be able to use this beautiful facility for the remainder of the time. Also, I’m certain that the volunteers of the Café will be good stewards of the site and the neighborhood continually working to make the area cleaner, safer and every ones quality of life better.”